Baghdad wants 100-year-old street on UNESCO heritage list

Al-Rasheed Street, one of the oldest streets and most important cultural areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad has approached the United Nations to enlist one of its oldest streets in the organizations list of world heritage spots, a government body declared on Tuesday.

“The Baghdad Secretariat has officially approached the UNESCO concerning the enlistment of al-Rasheed Street on the world heritage list after it has become 100 years old,” Almaalomah website reported, quoting Hakim Abdul-Zahra, director of the Baghdad Secretariat, a government body separate from the governorate and tasked with improving the capital’s infrastructure.

Abdul-Zahra added that the secretariat has prepared a list of demands concerning that enlistment move, including the reopening of the street, a decision which he said is up to the Baghdad Operations security command.

“The coming period will see efforts to rehabilitate some of the street’s heritage buildings,” the official added.

In 2010, the secretariat declared a USD7 dollar scheme to rehabilitate the historic street.

Iraq’s archaeological sites and priceless archaeological sites have sustained severe damage with wars and associated economic hardships, with the damage exacerbating with the emergence of Islamic State militants in 2014.